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Fun Fact: Haint Blue and the Gullah People

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By Anu Jameson

Home improvement tips from Networx.com, a website where real people give unpretentious home & garden advice and share their experiences so that you can deal with your own house with more fun and less anxiety. Look here for cheap and time-efficient
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Home improvement tips from Networx.com, a website where real people give unpretentious home & garden advice and share their experiences so that you can deal with your own house with more fun and less anxiety. Look here for cheap and time-efficient ideas (because we also don't have time to sew our own drapes), real stories about great, imperfect homes and gardens, and funny writers who don't take themselves too seriously.

Have you ever noticed that in parts of the South, people paint their porch ceilings light blue? The color is called "Haint Blue", and it comes from a tradition of the Gullah people. The Gullah are a group of African Americans who live on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. They are originally from the rice-growing region of West Africa, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Senegal. The culture of Sierra Leone was particularly influential on the Gullah.

Gullah folklore suggests that painting the ceiling of one's porch keeps away "haints", which are basically ghosts. The Gullah have influenced the aesthetic of houses in the Southeast. In places like Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, you'll notice that many houses have light blue porch ceilings. Ask a painting contractor in Charleston, or see Yale University's page about the Gullah for more information about the tradition of Haint Blue. View original post.